Archived Story: Ancient Blood
by Orpheus Kidwell
Summary: Uploaded as an archive. Heavy AU, with Youkai. Ancient Blood runs deep through the shinobi nations. Sometimes the answer is so simple as magic.


**Ancient Blood**

**Given the number of PMs I'm getting, I'm going to have to start disclaiming these stories. This is an archive, as in the likelihood of my continuing it is relatively low (unless someone motivates me with a commission or something).**

**Chapter I**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. All credit goes to the respective owners.**

_ Life is a complex system that science has tried to recreate as long as humanity has had some understanding of it. It has always laid just out of our reach. Once upon a time, there was a group who were capable of creating it, but the jealousy of their rivals has forced them to scatter. Only their descendants remain. Powers of Health, of the Soul, of the Mind, of the Flesh and of the Blood are only theirs to wield. This is their story._

**[November 2, XX08 – Red Light District, Konohagakure no Sato]**

Darkness enveloped the Red Light District of Konohagakure, the new moon preventing even moonlight from illuminating the most crime-ridden part of the village. Dashing through the night was a cloaked figure, too fast for any of the prostitutes, drug dealers or solicitors to even register. When the dark blur finally stopped, it was in an alley with a heavy, metal door on one of the buildings. It didn't stand very tall, perhaps one and a half meters at most, though the cloak wrapped tightly enough that nothing else could be discerned.

Knocking on the door, the figure waited for a slot on the door to open and backed up. Two brown eyes peered out the new opening and looked left, then right, before looking down. "Password?" A voice asked.

"Nue." The cloaked figure responded curtly, purple eyes shining from beneath its hood. The slot closed and the sound of locks and latches being undone could be heard even through the thick steel. The door then opened up to reveal the owner of those brown eyes. He was tall and broad in the shoulders, with a close-shaven hair style that showed only the barest trace of black follicles. With arms suited to crush skulls with just his grip, it was no wonder that the brown shirt he wore was sleeveless. Over that, he had a matching vest made of the same material the Jounin flak jackets were. On his hip was a rather heavy looking kanabo with large, steel studs that looked more like spikes. The doorman moved out of the way enough for the hooded figure to enter before shutting the door once again.

The cloaked figure entered and ignored the few patrons that sat in the bar, drinking sake and foreign alcohols, eating less than decent food and flirting with the barmaids. It moved with surety in its steps. That said, the figure's footsteps never made a noise and the way its cloak moved at the hem implied it glided like a specter instead of walking like a mortal.

The figure soon arrived to another door and knocked on this one as well. At the command of "Enter!" it obeyed. Instead of opening the door, the figure acted more like a phantasm and walked _through _the door.

The only other figure in the room grinned a slimy smirk upon seeing it enter. He stood at an impressive two and a half meters with a lithe figure that one would describe as lanky. Within the man's green eyes an obvious amount of cunning and madness could be seen that mixed to create something _far_ more terrible than either alone. He wore his jet black hair to his shoulders in a greased back style that glistened in even the low light of the office. His clothing was hard to pin down whether it was once white but became stained red over time, or whether it was bleached to try and eradicate the blood stains but only partially successful. On the man's waist sat several knives, but the figure knew this man had far more hidden in his clothing than could be reasonably counted. "Naruto, my boy, I'm glad you could come! I have a job and your… _skills _would be just perfect for it!"

The figure, Naruto, reached up to pull down his hood with a nod. He revealed spikes of blonde hair an inch high, those piercing violet orbs with slits for pupils and an impassive look on his childish face. "At your service, Rattlesnake." The blonde replied rather easily and with more than a little respect for the man.

"Ya see, I've got these punks messing with my sales over on Saru and 7th. They run out of some tenement that's in even worse shape that that shit hole you can a home, no offense."

"None taken. It is beyond my choice right now. So, you want me to get taxes or take the profits you lost by force?" Rattlesnake grinned and shook his head. "I see. Okay, I'll take care of it. I'm assuming they're unaffiliated?" At the man's nod, the blonde smiled for the first time that night. "Good, that means I don't have to hold back. I'm asking the same price as before."

"Don't worry your cute little head over that. Just make sure you bring me back theirs. Hell, I'll even pay you for their product if you bring it back so I don't have to send a courier." Naruto nodded at that and pulled his hood back up and turned to leave. "Oh, and I heard Mai was looking for you. Just delivering the message though." He showed understanding with another nod at that before leaving the same way he came.

Once outside again, Naruto focused his will and felt the ground becoming further away from him. Within a moment he was levitating above the rooftops, looking down at the Hidden Leaf. Violet eyes scanned the roads until he found the street-corner that Rattlesnake had mentioned.

The blonde began moving fast enough to be a dark blur against the stars to anyone looking up. It was unlikely anyone be suspicious enough to investigate or even report it though. Ninja and civilian alike had grown very superstitious thanks to the constant appearance of a _dark spirit_ every night in the Red Light District. The thought actually brought an amused smile to the boy's lips.

That smile was replaced by an impassive look as he landed on a flat roof that gave him clear sight of a seven-story tenement that looked even more rundown than the residence the Hokage had gifted him with after he was accepted into the Shinobi Academy. Outside of the apartment tower was a gaunt looking man with a sunken face and shaky hands who kept looking back and forth down either side of the street. Obviously, he was waiting for someone. _Perhaps I should wait for that person to show up as well. _Naruto thought to himself and contented himself with sitting atop the roof. It would be interesting to see who was brave enough to buy from someone unaffiliated with Rattlesnake.

It was not much longer before his patience paid off. It looked to be some Chuunin. Not even a poor one at that. So that's what it was. They sold to people who didn't know any better. Naruto shook his head with more than a little disappointment. It wasn't his fault they were ignorant: rules were rules. He didn't make them, he just had a job and did it. They were his family after all. When the rest of the village had abandoned him: Rattlesnake, Mai and the Boss took him in. True, he worked for them, but they still treated him like family.

Pushing those thoughts away, Naruto kept his cloak close to his body and made his way to the roof of another nearby building. He wanted to make sure he was following the rules correctly. Once the Chuunin had gone inside one of the rooms on the first floor, that's when Naruto decided it was enough. Moving quickly through the air, he landed just in front of the door and placed a paper tag on it. When it glowed, he knew that the sound barrier had been activated. Phasing through the door as if it was air instead of wood, he was content to see he wasn't noticed. They were in one of the other rooms. If he were to take a guess, the product was stored back there.

Levitating through the apartment, he kept his chakra to minimal levels even as he heard the two individuals. "This is the stuff you want, if you're looking for a good time." The dealer remarked aloud. Even as he spoke, Naruto heard something else from him. _"Gods, I hope the boss knows what he's doing. He's not from around this part of town, he doesn't know what happens to those that go against Rattlesnake._

"And how much was a gram of this, again?" The Chuunin asked. _"I just hope that Rei is right. This stuff is supposed to get me so high I won't remember that mission ever again. I just can't stand the nightmares anymore."_

The blonde had heard enough, both from their words and their thoughts. They were weak, and he wouldn't allow weaklings to taint his big brother's territory. Stepping through the closed door, he held up his hand and felt pressure build up before molding it. The two sensed a newcomer and both looked down. The Chuunin seemed confused as to why there was a cloaked child, but the dealer began sweating profusely. "Shit… shit! Not you!" He backed up quickly, but ended up tripping himself over a box of needles that just _happened _to fall over at an opportune moment. "Fuck!" He cursed as a few of said needles penetrated his leg in six places.

"I'll deal with you in a bit. For now, I must punish this man." Naruto explained in a matter-of-fact tone as he looked at the Chuunin. Pointing his raised hand at the teen, who was surely no more than 15 or 16, he watched as the shinobi was raised a few feet off the ground until his back was pressed firmly against the ceiling. The man seemed to have trouble breathing and was gasping for air even as his arms and legs were spread wide. "Everyone knows that you don't buy from _anyone _here except for Rattlesnake. If you want to live a full life, that is. Ignorance of the law is no excuse." The Chuunin couldn't even gather the proper air to respond until he finally stopped struggling. Using the force he grabbed him with to toss him across the room like a limp rag doll, Naruto then laid his violet eyes on the dealer.

As soon as his focus was back on him, the man tried in vain to move back. Naruto slightly waved the fingers of his lowered hand. They were obscured by the cloak, so the dealer couldn't see them. The effects were visible though, as used needles on the floor all rose into the air and _slammed _into the dealer's exposed flesh. He screamed in agony, even as the depressors were remotely pulled back. What was once used to inject drugs was now used to extract blood from the helpless drug dealer. Floating forward, Naruto looked down at the man, who was whimpering as tears left his eyes and dripped onto the floor. All of the syringes suddenly pulled out simultaneously, causing his whimper to become a shout.

"You knew what you did was wrong. I could hear your thoughts, your fears. You knew this would happen and still took the risk instead of letting Rattlesnake know ahead of time. For your crimes against nii-sama, there is only one punishment. You know what it is already, don't you?" The man didn't answer, he just shivered as his tears mixed with the slowly increasing puddle of blood that gathered beneath him. Looking at the man with distaste, Naruto gathered an invisible force around his first two fingers, which were extended while the rest of his fingers were closed. Making a single, swift motion he watched as a line formed across the dealer's throat and head became separated from torso. Ignoring the blood that soaked into the floor, seeing as he floated above it, Naruto pulled a scroll from one of his pockets and opened it. Some unseen force began to grab all of the drugs – he believed it was probably opium – and push them into the scroll, which swallowed them greedily. Rattlesnake would really appreciate it. Well, that and the rest of the work that he would be putting in tonight. There was plenty of more to do if he was going to turn this in as a successful run.

**[November 3, XX08 – The Fox's Den]**

The next day saw Naruto locking up his apartment. He still wore the cloak around himself, though the hood was left down to showcase his face to the world. After turning the key in the door, he grasped the door handle and channeled a portion of chakra into it. As he did so, the surface area glowed with an ethereal blue, revealing light markings all over the door, which spread across the walls just around the door frame itself. This was his security seal, which he had gained as a favor from someone in the Boss' gang. Pulling his hand from the metallic knob, the blonde couldn't but think: _How did it end up like this again?_

Turning away from his abode, the eight year old began walking down the stairs from his third floor room. They creaked with each step, but held up well enough. He didn't care about the noise, not really. He had no other neighbors in the entire apartment building and they served as a good warning sign if anyone decided they wanted to try and sneak up on him at night. If they could get past his security seals, that is.

Addressing that stray thought process, the boy wondered where it came from before his mind wandered down a memory. He could remember it clear as day, now that it was what he focused on. It was about three years ago, wasn't it?

**[October 11, XX05 – Konohagakure no Sato Orphanage]**

_"Why am I the one to do this? The Fox… it could just kill me with nary a thought. Ooh… I don't want to die! Please, don't kill me!" _Quickly, a five-year old Naruto had packed the few possessions he had in scrolls. Thanks to prescience of the situation at hand, he wasn't caught by surprise when it happened. When he woke up this morning he had simply… _known_ something was going to happen. It wasn't so much a thought, as it was a feeling. Based on what he could hear – and by this point he knew the difference between someone's voice and someone's thoughts – he was right in following that instinct. That said, it's not as if he had many possessions. Some books, a few secondhand ninja tools he'd scavenged from training grounds and his grand total of three outfits (which included the one's on his back).

A woman, one of the employees of the Konohagakure no Sato orphanage, walked into his room. The blonde sat on what passed for a bed, simply looking at her. He wanted to hear her say it, from her lips. The intensity of his violet orbs seemed to send the woman into some sort of paralytic fit, her entire body shaking as she was wracked with cold sweats on top of it. Chestnut brown hair was tied in a frizzy ponytail as a testament to how stressed the woman was this morning. She likely had been pressured into this against her will. By her thoughts, it wasn't that she disliked the idea, but that she was afraid of the consequences against her personally. Slowly, the woman seemed to gain her bearing though as her own brown eyes focused.

_"I can do this. I can do this! He's just a child, right? The Fox has a weak body, so there shouldn't be anything it can do to me." _Naruto had heard enough people's thoughts to know that the villagers thought he was something called the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Upon doing research, he found out it was a monster of chakra and malevolence known as a bijuu. There, unfortunately, didn't seem to be much about it in the books he had access to in the library. With that in mind, he had done the next best thing: searched through the thoughts of those around him.

The messages he received were jumbled. From what the boy could tell though, on the night of his birth the Fourth Hokage had fought the beast when it suddenly appeared in the center of the village. Unable to kill it, he sealed it away inside of an infant, inside of him. This had changed him from a human to what the Jounin referred to as a jinchuuriki. Apparently, having a bijuu sealed inside of a human was not uncommon among the hidden villages, though they were ultimately forced to the fate of being a weapon.

After learning of that, the blonde had started to wonder if that's why he could hear the thoughts of other people and feel emotions that weren't his? Ultimately, he never did find any evidence of that, but only more research would give him those answers. For the moment, he kept quiet about the whole matter, because apparently talking about it was an offense punishable by death. Naruto didn't like the idea of dying, not after all the scenes of death he'd seen the shinobi recalling around the village. He saw some things he wished he could forget… unfortunately that seemed to be something he was incapable of.

"Y-you're too much trouble, Fo- I mean, Naruto. We don't have room f-for troublemakers here. Besides w-we need to f-free up some space for other ch-children." Shaken out of his thoughts, Naruto regarded the woman. Immediately, to a comical degree, the woman stepped back in fear at his gaze.

"Oh, you were still here." He regarded coldly. Standing from his bed, he looked at the woman like she was some sort of insect. Seeing that look, she backed up more until she ran into the wall. Each step he took had the woman shaking more and more. Her thoughts were getting louder and louder and they were starting to hurt his head. Why couldn't she just stop it? Glaring at the woman, he felt an anger bubbling up within him that he couldn't quite place. He'd never felt so much… hatred as he did just then. He couldn't see it, but his purple eyes were bleeding a dangerous red color until his pupils became thin and slitted. Those eyes _terrified _the woman into speechlessness. Unfortunately, her thoughts became _louder_.

_Just, SHUT UP! _Naruto allowed his anger to materialize as a thought aimed at the woman and watched her eyes shot up into her head. She began shaking wildly and the palms of her hands began to bleed as the fists she had clenched in fear scrunched up tighter and tighter until nail pierced flesh. She began foaming at he mouth violently until her legs gave out from beneath her and she fell to the floor in a heap. Without warning, a strong odor filled the room as a puddle of yellow liquid which Naruto quickly placed as urine soaked her clothing and his floor.

For his part, the Uzumaki was genuinely surprised at what had occurred. Did he do that? He didn't think that would happen… but he wasn't sorry either. She was just being so loud! Walking past the woman, and making sure he didn't step in her urine, he walked out of his room. He noticed that the other matrons were gathered off to the side in fear and being quiet. Well, verbally, they were. Their thoughts were panicked and loud, but not nearly as loud as the other one. Honestly, he just wanted to get out and go somewhere quiet.

Leaving the orphanage, the boy thought about where he could go for some peace where no one usually went. Looking up, he smiled as he saw the Hokage Monument and decided to head up there. Making his way away from his former home with surety in his step, the blonde made his way towards his destination.

**[November 3, XX08]**

As Naruto made his way through the streets of the crime-ridden area that he called home, he was pulled from his stroll down memory lane by the sound of heels on the sidewalk. Looking up, he noted the approaching woman, not with disdain or lust – as many would – but with a soft smile. Tanned skin and bleach blonde hair signified the woman as a prostitute, a red tube top and _very _short skirt signified her as belonging to Mai. "Hello, Saiko-san." He greeted. The woman smiled and ruffled his hair as she approached.

"How are you today, Naruto-chan?" She wondered. At the boy's shrug, she shook her head. "You have to be more convicted than that, you know. I'm here for a reason though, Mai is looking for you. She sent us out to look for you." Looking past the boy at the apartment that he called home, she sighed. "You know, you don't have to stay in that terrible place, right? Mai would be more than willing to let you stay in any of her properties."

Saiko began to lead Naruto through the streets as she spoke. "I'd rather not do that if I can help it. There's no use in me placing any of you in unnecessary danger. As long as I stay in the place that the Hokage gave me and attend classes without causing trouble, the ANBU and him don't really watch me too intently. Besides, as bad as it looks on the outside, my seals make it much better on the inside. All that money from doing jobs for Mai, Rattlesnake and the Boss really comes in handy." Saiko puffed her cheeks a bit before sighing.

"Alright, if that's the way it has to be. Anyways, you looked really deep in thought when I found you. What was that about?" Taking a moment to gather his thoughts, the boy answered.

"I was trying to remember how I got caught up with the Yomi no Sanou. I just got caught up reliving my memories is all." Saiko nodded, though she didn't know what his abilities were, so that statement meant little to her. Not many people actually knew more than one or two things he'd taught himself to do. Because of his… it was probably a bloodline. Yes, because of his bloodline, he could recall any memory with perfect clarity, so he was _actually _reliving that memory as he walked.

Even as he made idle conversation with Saiko, he felt his mind wandering back to where he was before. What had happened after that, again? Oh, right, that was when he met Mai.

**[October 12, XX05 – Konohagakure Hokage Monument]**

After leaving the orphanage, Naruto had walked all the way to the monument. There were several drunks that had… less than honorable intentions if they had seen him, so he made the correct decision and evaded them as much as possible. Some of the thoughts they had made him fear for his life _greatly_ if he was caught. It actually made him thankful for his ability to hear the thoughts of others.

With that, he had spent the night atop the monument – thankful for the quiet – before awaking the next day as the sun rose. It had been several hours since then and he was propped up against a tree that had sprouted from Nidaime-sama's head, reading one of his books. He had borrowed it from the library last week and was nearly finished with it. Still, he'd need to get more books on the subject of fuinjutsu if was ever going to understand how the seal that held the Kyuubi at bay worked.

The blonde suddenly shut his book and sealed it back into his scroll. Tucking the scroll into one of his pants pockets, he stood up and dusted himself off. "Hello there." Even though he was seemingly speaking to the air, a soft giggle broke the silence he had enjoyed so much. Before Naruto's eyes, the shade under the tree he had sat under shimmered and swayed like some sort of riptide. Raising from the shadow emerged a figure.

She was tall, perhaps only a few inches under six feet and adorned in a cloak that shifted like some sort of spirit. The cloak itself was dark, darker than the darkest black that Naruto had ever seen. Looking at it too intently hurt the boy's eyes. It was as if it was both nearby and far away at the same time, hard to focus on yet just within reach. The woman's hood was down, showing straight, onyx-colored hair that stopped at her shoulders in a bob-style cut. Forest green eyes regarded him with a sense of satisfaction, curiosity and amusement all at the same time. "You could sense me. That's something new. I am Naraka Mai."

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto." He responded in kind. He focused on her eyes – mostly so he didn't have to focus on her cloak – but was confused. He could _feel _her mind, he knew it was there. He couldn't hear any thoughts though. He couldn't even feel her emotions. It was like she was simply _there_. "Is there some way I can help you?" He asked politely. This woman genuinely frightened him. He couldn't tell what she was thinking and that was something he didn't know he missed.

"One of my women tells me you did something… interesting yesterday." The blonde regarded her with a bit more curiosity, though that fear was still there. "It wasn't genjutsu, because she didn't sense anything coming from you in the way of chakra. It intrigued me, so I wanted to stop by and meet someone with the kind of power you supposedly used. Would you like to tell me anything?"

Naruto eyed her before deciding it couldn't hurt anything. "I can… hear the thoughts of others. When I'm around someone with strong emotions, I can feel them as if they were my own. I don't know what I did yesterday, but I think its related to that. Her thoughts were so loud and I just wanted her to shut up. All my anger and her fear mixed and I thought it really loud and then… she died." Mai simply smiled at his explanation.

"I do believe that you will become interesting indeed." She tilted her head a bit, as if listening to something, before nodding. "It seems as if I'm running short on time, so I must leave. That said, I will be seeing you again, young one. You intrigue me in a way not many have, and no one in a long time. I will see you soon." With that, Naraka Mai sank back into the shadow with no evidence of her ever being there. A ghost left more of a trail than her. That left Naruto with nothing left but to wonder just who she was and what was going on.

**[October 17, XX05 – The Fox's Den]**

Naruto looked from the old man who had introduced himself as the Hokage to the… residence the man had explained would be his and back to the man. It _was _technically better than the Hokage Monument he had been sleeping on each night, but that was a very low bar to beat. "I know it isn't much, but it was the best I could get on such short notice. That said, aside from you it will be completely abandoned by any other tenants so you can sleep in whichever apartment you wish. They're all yours." The blonde barely restrained himself from sighing and instead only nodded his head.

"I appreciate it, Hokage-sama." Naruto responded formally. While he thought that something less… broken would be better, he didn't really have any place to argue. The man had given him something that he didn't have to. He truly was grateful, especially since he wouldn't have to deal with those women back at the orphanage and their loud thoughts anymore. Speaking of which, the Hokage hadn't said anything to him about the woman he'd accidentally killed – no one had, for that matter. Aside from that mysterious woman, Mai, that is.

Ignoring that oddity for now, Naruto looked at the building and decided to take an apartment on one of the upper floors. The further he was away from the street – and thus stray thoughts of passerby – the better off he was. "I see that you're impatient to see your new place. I'll let you figure out which one you want and have it furnished for you. Oh, and congratulations on your acceptance into the Shinobi Academy." With a smile, the old man began to walk away, leaving Naruto on his own again. Walking up to the third floor, the boy found it a bit unsettling at how much the stairs creaked with each step but was glad they held his weight.

At random, he chose a door and walked inside. Flipping the switch, he watched in idle curiosity as dozens of cockroaches scattered when the light came on. The little insects were exuding something akin to fear, but it seemed calmer than human fear. Perhaps it was just their survival instinct? Still, there was quite a bit of them for an abandoned building. It made the blonde wonder how long this place had been evicted and why it was.

Sniffing the air, it became obvious to the boy how they were surviving though. Walking into the kitchen, he noted that the foul odor was coming from the refrigerator. Opening the door, he was blasted with the worst smell he had ever been forced to endure. Cartons of curdled milk, plates of rotten food that he couldn't quite identify and jars of some pickled substance. Stepping back and covering his nose, he noted that the appliance was unplugged, which likely led to this state of affairs. Glancing around, he unfortunately had nothing in the way of chemicals – or even flammable resources – to take care of the issue. With that in mind, he shut the door and decided he would need to figure out something else to do. Hopefully the other rooms weren't nearly this bad.

"Well, that was certainly strong." Naruto turned to regard the familiar voice and spotted Mai. Her nose was wrinkled, but she was otherwise smiling. When had she gotten here? That was strange. He hadn't even _felt _her mind this time. "Hello again, Naruto-chan." The blonde looked at the woman, but decided that she didn't have any ill intent.

"Hello again, Naraka-san." He replied politely.

"This place is an absolute travesty. It is amazing that the Hokage would allow a child to reside here on his own." The woman waved her hand in the direction of the fridge. All Naruto could do was watch as the shadows rose up and _consumed _the appliance. With another flick of her wrists, the shadows of the kitchen rose up and took the form of some sort of flock of birds. They began flying through the apartment and every time they touched anything unsanitary or dusty, the shadows consumed the foreign substances. "It's really starting to look respectable now."

"What was that?" Naruto asked, amazement clear in his voice. Mai gave a small smile, but didn't answer the question.

"Naruto-chan, do you know the nature of your abilities?" The inquiry caught the jinchuuriki off-guard, but he shook his head. "That is unfortunate. Knowing the nature of your powers helps you develop them to levels that other might think impossible for any but a god." She paused a moment as the shadow-birds flew back to the places they came from. "Thoughts and emotions all come from the same place, really. They originate in the mind, from the memories that shape a person's very being. You don't feel fear unless given a reason to. Someone betrayed at every turn has no reason to think of trust. Humans really are nothing but an amalgamation of our own memories and reactions to those parts of our past that we deem most important."

Naruto didn't quite get what she was driving at, though he did understand what she was saying. He could tell that each person in the village was but a reaction to their past, based on the things he'd seen. "Do you know anything about my abilities, about what I can do?" Perhaps if he could get a handle on his powers, he would be able to control whose thoughts and emotions he heard. He just wanted things to be quiet, like when he was atop the monument.

Mai smirked, tapping a slender finger against her chin. "I may have some ideas about what you could someday do. It would be useless without learning to control what you can already do though. Your other powers will show themselves in time, when you're ready. Concentrate on what you can already do first. I'll tell you what, one of my… associates is having a problem, if you help him out, I'll show you an exercise to keep your telepathic field around just yourself. You help me and I'll help you, so to speak." Without even having to think about it, Naruto nodded his head.

**[November 3, XX08 – Sekai no Yami Hideout]**

"Ah, it's wonderful to see you again, Naruto-chan." Mai greeted cheerfully to the blonde from her seat. She sat in what appeared more like a throne than a chair, made entirely out of ivory, gilded with silver atop the back and with a purple cushion. To either side, she had a guard watching over her. On the left was Shou, and the right was Yuno.

Shou stood tall, taller than even Mai but with the face of someone younger – perhaps seventeen or eighteen against Mai's early twenties. Brown hair draped down to his shoulders and matched his oak-colored pupils. He wore a black military-style jacket with a high collar, buttoned fully that extended past his thighs. A black belt was tied around the jacket, at his waist, while a pair of black pants extended down his legs where they were tucked into a pair of knee-high black, leather boots. From his hip, a kai gunto hung on the right while a wakizashi hung on the left. Oddly, floating behind Shou were a pair of green-colored orbs that seemed to be fiery, but gave off no heat and very little luminescence.

Yuno, on the other hand, was strikingly different aside from the look of youth. She was perhaps only a little taller than five feet and likely around the age of fifteen. A single ponytail of black hair was accentuated with a jade ring about six inches from the bottom of it, which itself reached down to her waist. She wore the uniform of Konohagakure's most prestigious secondary school for non-shinobi, which consisted of a dark blue pleated skirt, a white blouse and a dark blue blazer with the Konohagakure emblem on the chest in red. Hanging from each ear were a pair of earrings that appeared to be small, opaque balls from a chain. Yuno didn't appear to have any weapons, and didn't seem the type to fight either – given her soft features, innocent smile and large eyes.

The blonde regarded the trio – Saiko had left when he arrived at the building, since he knew where Mai's throne room was – before speaking. "I was told you wanted to see me, onee-sama?" He asked. Though it seemed to be a professional tone, the smile on the boy's face – soft but genuine – spoke volumes to those he regarded. "Is there something I need to take care of?" Mai giggled, waving it off.

"I can't just call my little brother without there being some ulterior motive behind it?" The blonde gave her a look, which made Mai grin. "Okay, okay, you've got me. However, unlike Rattlesnake I don't have need of your skills for petty drug dealers or traumatized Chuunin. I've got something a little more… along your level. Yuno, if you would?" The schoolgirl nodded and stepped forward even as she pulled one of her earrings off. Tossing it into the air, she gave a command.

"**Illuminate." **In a flash of light, the earring disappeared in lieu of an _enormous _holographic and three-dimensional image of some sort of creature. As Naruto looked closer at each detail, he noted it was taller than Shou, probably closer to eight feet tall. Its skin was entirely red, a dark red that reminded him of blood and fire. From its forehead two, vertically pointing, frontward facing and curved horns of bone rose towards the sky and added an extra foot and a half to its height. It wore nothing in the realm of clothing aside from a loincloth that appeared to be made of tiger fur and carried some sort of club in its right hand. If Naruto remembered correctly, it was called a kanabo. The kanabo was also stained a familiar dark red that was nearly black over the studded iron.

"Is that an oni?" Naruto wondered curiously. At the nod of Mai, Naruto inspected it again and sighed. "You never have anything… mundane for me, do you?" At the question, Mai giggled again.

"How else can you possibly gain control over a supernatural power than by using it to take down supernatural entities?" She wondered as if that was the most logical and reasoned response to his question.

**[Forest of Death – Training Ground 44]**

The blonde had been accompanied by Shou on his way to find the stray oni. He was in charge of explaining the situation to the boy and also helping if necessary. After all, Mai wouldn't send an eight year old – no matter how powerful – to take on a monster all on his own, would she? Well, this _was _Mai, so she might. That was the thought process that the Uzumaki had towards his onee-sama.

"The Red Oni we found has been causing all sorts of disturbances in the area. It hasn't had any interactions with humans or any kami, but it is certainly upsetting the wildlife and other youkai in the area. If you noticed the blood on its club, that's from its meals. So far it has fought and killed a Yuurei and a Kappa, taking their energy as its own. It doesn't seem like it's gained their abilities after eating their corpses, but there's always that possibility as well. You know how these things work."

Naruto nodded, even as Shou and he flew through the forest, weaving through the trees in their search for the Red Oni. While Naruto's ability to warp gravity enough to levitate and fly came from his strange powers that Mai swore were associated with his mind, Shou was another matter entirely. Even as the blonde had to bob left and right to dodge the thick tree trunks, Shou just phased through them as if they weren't there. While Naruto could do the same, his took a large amount of focus to perform because it was an aspect of his powers. Shou could do it so easily because he wasn't human. Shou was nothing more than a spirit that could take a physical form, a kami formed from the spirit of a dead soldier from a war long past. How he became a kami, Naruto didn't know yet. That said, Mai promised to explain things later, after he was stronger. He didn't know why his ability to defend himself was a per-requisite, but if that's what she wanted he would wait.

Tearing himself from those thoughts as a deep grunt entered his earshot, Naruto and Shou stopped their flight path and looked down past the foliage of their vantage to spot their target. Sitting on a rather large rock, the beast held the hindquarters of an adult buck and was devouring the meat on it. Nearby, the rest of the animal lay in a patch of red grass, still twitching in its death throes. The killing blow on it was obvious, given a large blow to its neck, back and head. The oni was so intent on consuming its meal that it must not have noticed its voyeurs. Well… it probably helped that Naruto had used one of his abilities to prevent it from seeing, smelling or hearing anything from their area that he didn't want it to.

"That thing smells disgusting." The blonde mentioned to his companion. Shou shrugged, which only caused Naruto to sigh. That's right, Shou didn't observe things through the same five senses he did. For him it was more of… sensing the life energy of other beings, and the lack thereof. "Well, there isn't really a point in making this more complicated than it needs to be." Floating down to the ground and levitating just a bit off the grass, the Uzumaki regarded the youkai before him.

Finally deciding on an opening move, he went to remove the thing's weapon from endangering him. Reaching his hand out, he pulled on the kanabo with an invisible force and allowed it to float in front of him, slowly turning as he examined it. The oni didn't seem to notice it for a moment until its left ear twitched and it looked down where its club had been. Quickly rising to its feet, it looked around before seemingly spotting Naruto. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto applied pressure to the oni's mind, right where the glands controlling its visual senses was located. With a mighty roar, the thing palmed its eyes, as if they were burning.

While it was busy, the boy flicked his wrist and watched as the iron end of the club jabbed into the monster's stomach, sending the beast to its back. Screaming in pain from a new area, the thing tried getting up, only to have the kanabo strike its outstretched arm hard enough to knock its elbow _so _far in that it appeared the ogre was double-jointed.

"Onee-chan said I need to get better at my abilities before she can trust me with certain information. Something like you won't help me get better though." Naruto commented as the club struck its former owner's skull once, twice, three times. It continued to slam into the head until the beast's screams became cries, until those cries became whimpers and until even those whimpers became silence. Stepping forward and poking the thing's body with his new kanabo – telekinetically, of course – he was satisfied when it didn't move. "Shou, I think we're done here."


End file.
